Water treatment device



arch 4, 1958 s. s. MACK 2,825,464

WATER TREATMENT DEVICE Filed Jan. 22. 1954 arrow. -to ,a hollow cylindrical pipe section ;5 ,formed of wrought United States Patent i This invention pertains to water treatment devices,

:.and more particularly relates -to devices incorporating permanent magnets forthe-treatmentof water containing calcium salts.

. An object of the-invention istoprovide asimple and inexpensive device for subjecting water to a magnetic field and predetermined subsequent dispersion and agitation.

The novel-features which are believed to becharacteristic of thisinvention-aresetiorth withparticularity'in the appended claim. The invention itself, however, both as to its organization andrnethod of operation, together with further objects and advantagesth'ereof, maybest be understood by reference to the following description taken .in connection with-the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is asectional sideelevation of a device in accord with this invention;

'Fig. 2 is, a sectional view of the device on enlarged .scale taken alongline 2-2 of Fig. 1;

.Fig.'3 is a sectional view of the device on the enlarged scale of Fig. 2 and taken along line 3- 3 of Fig. 1;"and

Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of a broken away .portion of a magnet and-cylinder assembly included in the device, on substantially the same scale as Fig. 2;

Referring to Fig. '1 of the drawings, the wat'er treatment device comprises an-elongated cylindrical magnetic treatment portionindicated generally at'1, -and a bulbous dispersing and agitating portion indicatedgenerally at 2. Water to'be treated is supplid to t he'device at an inlet end through inletflpipe 3, .as .indicated by the Inlet pipe 3 is coupled byiexpanding sleeve 4 iron ora similar magneticallyhighlypermeable ferrous metal. The section '5'is'coated internally to prevent corrosion, as by galvanizing Th'e' irit erna l. diametenoipipe sections ,may be 1 inch an d the, overall lengthzof section may be l2 inehes for aninlet pipe 3 of nominally inch size. It has-been foundtha't the ratio of internal diameter to length ,of the SfiCIiQH S should. be not less than about 1:. 10 and,is preferably 1:12. The wall of section 5 should have a thickness of between about one-fifth and one-tenth of-the internal'diameter of the section, assuming the material to be wrought iron or other ferrous metal of similar permeability, and a thickness of one-eighth inch is appropriate in a device having other dimensions herein given as exemplary in a device for use with a inch water pipe line.

A hollow closed and sealed cylinder 6 having relatively thin non-magnetic walls is arranged coaxially within section 5 and cylinder 6 should have an inner diameter equal to not less than about one-half of the inner diameter of section 5. The walls of cylinder 6 may be, for example, of about one-thirty-second of an inch in thickness. Within the cylinder 6, three solid cylindrical permanent magnet bars are arranged in end-to-end relationship, the poles at the ends of the intermediate magnet 7 being disposed toward respectively like poles of the end magnets 8 and ,9. Thus if magnet 8 is oriented to a 2,825,464 1C Pate'nted Mar. 4, 1958 have a north pole toward the inlet pipe 3 and a south pole adjacent magnet 7, mag'net'7 is'oriented to haveits south pole adjacentithe south pole of magnet 8." Similarly, the north pole ofmagnet 9 will be disposed immediately adjacent the north pole of magnet 7, "white the south pole of magnet 9 will be arranged toward the outlet end of s'ectio'n 5. The end walls of the'c'ylinder 6, as will be apparent from Fig I, retain the magnets within the cylinder and maintain the aforesaid immediate adjacency of theends of rr'iagn'etfi 'tot'he"respectiveends ofmagnets Sand 9. M Cylinder 6 is retained in coaxial position within section 5 by means of spacers which may comprise elongated biars ltl and' ILIsquare incrij'ss'section', and sol- "tiered to the outeri's'urfacjebf cylinderoi 'ihree s h bars are preiei'ably proyided, and the bars may b'e approximatelyequa'l iii-length "to section Sjsubh' as 'twl've inchesfand arranged to"preventthecylinder containing magnets 7, 8 and 9 frombecoming'longitudinally"jdisplaced from its "desired position within 'pipe"'5.' lt'will be under stood that the ends of spacers 10 and 11 will meet some part of theiriner wall of theinIetIeXpande'r 4 or the outlet redu'ce'r'12 of the" riia'gnetic tie'atm'ent 'sectio n .1, or will contact the coupling 1310s the pipes, whenever the cylinder 6' moves ashort distance in either direction, and the purpose of'tlie extended length 'fo' f bars 1D' and;11 is primarily to limifsuch motion sufficiently to -keep 'cyiinder 6 well"within'"the' pipe section 5. -Whi le only two spacer barsltl anddl are seengin the sectional view of Fig." 1,' it will'beundefstood" tlia't a third identical bar ispr'efrably provinea'as' indicated in Fig.2 later described." 'lhe o'titletr'educer ;12 of the magnetic treatment portion 1 screws to the outlet end-in 'the'sarneniaiiiier that "inlet expandeffi 'screw s to'the inletend. Following ma netic treatm nt, the water entering "reduce'nlz' is directedinto a short externally thradedgc 'oupling'fi',"having at least as great an inner diameter as that'offthe inlet'pipe 3, andfrom coupling 13 tl'1e water isdelivered into the bulbous dispersing chamber of'jport ion"2 '51 ng the longitudinala'xis. Irfdispersing member: 2, them coming water meets a transverselyexter'idilng solid cylindric'al' dispersing member 14am is particularlyflirected into a notch 'or gmoveis extending'acro's's' thefportitin of member 14 which faces' the couplingISf TIie' Watr is severely agitated by the' groovedport'ion 'ofthefiispersing member and further agitatedas jitswirls outwardly toward the'gfwalls of the chamber. Aff'erpassing around the member 14', the'water is furtlirjagitatdfas 'it is directed inwardlyfb'y inwardly extendingshoulder 16' toward an outlet passage -17 "for" delivery to 'butl et p p V I; t, Portion 2, the agitating and-dispersing portion-of the treatmentdevice, is "formed of cas't' ir'onf For 'convenience and economy of manufacture, the cylindrical 'dispersing member 14 is .cast', together with the sh'oulders 16 and the walls, as an integral part of portion 21 The dispersing chamber may have, in the specific example given, a maximum internal diameter of about two and one-half inches and overall outside length of five and one-half inches, and the dispersing member 14 may be one inch in diameter.

Magnets 7, 8 and 9 are of a material providing a high flux density and great permanence or high retentivity, such as is exhibited by sintered alloys of aluminum, nickel, cobalt and iron, and commonly known as alnico. Each magnet, if pipe section 5 is 1 inch in internal diameter and 12 inches long, may be 3 inches longand /2 inch in diameter. The cylinder 6 should fit about the magnets with very little clearance. It is important for several reasons to provide a close fitting non-magnetic housing 6 for the magnets. Since like poles of adjaa cent magnets are arranged centrated fiux fields exist between the magnet poles and I the magnetic pipe section 5. Furthermore, if-the mag:

is reduced.

net housing cylinder6 were of too -great-internal diameter,',th e magnets would :pull Ohf Of'iaXlal arrangement a and the fluxfields would be undesirably less intense for those portions of each magnetwhichwere furthest irorn the pipe section 5. Y

The sectional view of; Fig. 2 shows :the arrangement of spacer bars 10, 11 and'19 each of whichis soldered, as at;20,' to, the outer wall surface of cylinder 6; g-Ihe cylinder, containing magnet 7, is retained in coanial align-' ment within pipe sectionYS byathezthree spacerbars; the 1 in free contact with the inner wall surface of, 7

bars being pipe5.-v e 7 U Details of the niagnehand cylinder arrangement are encloses the magnet elements, including elenientS, and wherein the spacer bars are seen to project beyond the closed end 22 f the cylinder 6. i

Fig. 3 is'a sectional view, on the same scale asQFigJii I V V a times said diameter and walls withathickness dimension a 2, taken along line 3-3 of Fig; 1, to show the cylinthe circular dispersing chamber formed interiorly of por to be together highlylcon- 10 which occur withgmorerapidflow; V t -t While one preferred embodiment of this invefi'tionhas};

been. shown and describedibyJWayJof illustrationgjmany'*' modifications will occurvto thoseskilled in' the *art and it is,,therefore,desired 'that'it be 'understoo'd thatit isf f '15 intended in the appended claim to, cover alljsuchimodi i true spirit and scope of this .further shown in Fig.4, wherein's'pacer bars 11: and 19 if 3 e l are seen to be soldered; as at 20', to the cylinder '6,1which section 1 past the magent polesjand the greater: agitation fications as fall within the invention. 7

f by Letters Patentof the United Statesisz. t a a j'comprising a ferrous metal: pipe having a predetermined drical transverse dispersing member 14 extending across I -closed hollow cylinder of. non-magneticv metal in said ;pipe,' said cylinder having adiantetenlessfthan about tion '2. Notch, 15 is 'seen to face the incoming stream of water, which, as heretofore mentioned is directed I 7 'into the dispersinggchamber along the chamber axis. 'The stream'of entering water is thoroughly agitated as it is directed toward the side walls 21 of the chamber and as-it is further directedinwardlyby the shoulders 16 toward the cylindrical outlet passage shown inFig. 1.

The device herein described is particularly useful with a a, hard water containing calcium salts, herein called cal 5 'careous water. The eifect of passing such water through thedevice isathat the apparent hardness of the waters Better soapsuds 'are'obtained with water which ha's' been treated in the device; and'scale formation in boilers and 'hotwater heaters is reduced if the water is first treatedin the,devicel The reasons for the change inithe water which results 'from the magnetic treatment inEsectionHL and the;dis-

persion and agitationin the unmagnetized magnetic ma;

terial dispersing' section, 2. is not entirely; understood. It is believed, however, that the moleculesof calcium carbonate and other scale forming salts are in some j wayt polarized or depolarizedby the combination qflpassage through the; strong magnetic fieldsexisting between r the magnet polesj and the-wrought iron pipe; 5 and the subsequent violentagitation in thepresenceof unmagnetized but magnetic ferrousmetal of the dispersion sec- 'tion. An inexplicable effect is the apparent reduct n in factor ,of' water originally having a pHx r greater than7, and a slight increase in pH of water originally 65 Y on the'acid side of 'pH 7; All of: the mentioned effects occur without the-adding of'any substance to the water and without- 'removing anything from the water, but occur internal diameter, *a length dimension at; least about 10 at least about one-tenth of said diameter, a thin vw alled' one-half of said pipe diameter and having a 'lengthile'ss ;than that of said pipe but at least about 8 times; saidf pipe diameter, at least three solid cylindrical bar magnets. ;of1high flux density and high 'retentivity disposed in said ;cylinder and proportionedsubstantially to till the hollow interior thereof, said magnets being arranged in' line with thenorth pole end off one of the end magnets against. the north pole end of an intermediate magnet'and -thesouth'pole end of said intermediate magnet against the *s outh pole end of athird magnet, non-magnetic metal a a spacers disposed externally of said cylinder'and proportioned to" maintain saidcylinder coaxially' lwithinsaid pipe, said pipe having an'inlet' end'and an opposite outlet V .end,-wherebywater entering 'saidjinlet end of .said pipe,

, fiows between said cylinder and-thewall of saidpipe tfor'magn etic; treatment, and ,issues fromsaid outlet end.

f 77 Referengesacitgcl file ofthis patent f t V UNITED srA T s PArENrs; i r

Hadley eta l; iIn1yi14, 1942 'Y' ,oTHER REFERnNcEs a merely as a result 'of'the passage of the. water through ,Iournalof'theElectrochemical Society,1vol; 10( No. 8,1 l .7

the device;

=An-'apparatus for the treatment of calcareous 'waterj 

